At the very least, the New York Mets’ acquisition of superstar slugger Juan Soto has probably solidified their status as a team that will always make the playoffs. Additionally, they are now a dominant force in the NL East thanks to the other offseason additions they made, like getting Frankie Montas and bringing Sean Manaea back to Queens.

However, despite making it to the NLCS the previous season, the Mets aren’t satisfied with just qualifying for the MLB playoffs. Their goal is to win World Series championships.

In a January 10 piece, MLB insider Jim Bowden of The Athletic expressed his belief that New York still needs to take some extra steps to maximize their use of Soto.

Despite outbidding the Yankees to win the Soto sweepstakes, the Mets were ultimately wildly overpaid—even for a player of that generation—because their owner could. But Bowden noted, “Soto brings a lot of energy, charisma, and exceptional on-base skills.”

“To get the most out of Soto’s abilities, I think they must re-sign Pete Alonso or acquire another big bat to provide protection directly behind him in the lineup to prevent teams from intentionally walking him in key spots.”

Bowden went on, “I liked the moves despite the risk that comes with that type of strategy; President of baseball operations David Stearns once again tried to build their rotation around shorter-term free-agent deals.” The objective was bringing back Manaea, and given his performance from the previous season, Montas was the best risk. Holmes will most likely wind up back in the bullpen despite his efforts to move from reliever to starter.